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Anonymous wrote:As a teacher, I am so incredibly embarrassed for my profession right now. We have spent years trying to be seen as important, essential, professional, up to tackling challenges, etc. Now most of my colleagues are ranting dramatically and nonsensically all over social media while going on beach vacations and taking their kids to sports practices. I will be exiting this profession as soon as I possibly can. The whole show has been disgraceful.

Agreed. It just seems like no one was willing to make the sacrifices needed to return to in person learning this fall- or just didn't make the connection until it was too late.

However, IME those who were advocating against in-person learning are not necessarily the same ones complaining about DL now. Many teachers with younger school-aged kids simply wanted to return to the classroom and now are really scrambling to figure out the logistics. And there should have been more training this summer to help some of the non-technology savvy teachers navigate remote teaching.

"The sacrifices needed"-you are literally talking about people dying. Let's be clear here.

By sacrifices needed, I meant no parties, no vacations, minimal store trips, no play dates. It’s not just teachers, it’s people across the board. Because so many have been doing all of these things, infection rates are now out of control again. But it rings a bit hollow when a teacher posts on social media that they are scared to go back to school after a week at Disney, you know?

This x a billion

It is such a joke that people keep referencing things like the opening of Disney world, as if it has anything at all to do with schools. Where is your data that teachers are flooding Disney? Oh right, you don't have any. Anyone going to Disney World right now is a fool who deserves to get sick. It flies in the face of all common sense that they would open up during Florida's out of control outbreak. It's a totally made up conspiracy that all teachers are running around, not social distancing and trying to avoid going back to school. What's with all the posts on here saying you see a teacher posting pictures on facebook of x activity? You think one person is indicative of the entire educational community? Guess you never took stat.

My family has been quarantining since March and now that is all going to be for absolutely nothing. I work in NYC. We've had 30,000 deaths. We are going back to school in a hybrid model. More of us will die. I don't know if it will be me, or my high risk family members. Teachers here can't opt out of teaching in person unless they qualify for a medical accommodation. I know teachers with newborns, family members who have cancer (spouses and children), family members who have Cystic Fibrosis-and they don't qualify to teach remotely under the guidance released by the Department of Education. These teachers can't just quit-they will lose their health insurance and income during a pandemic. People are angry and afraid. People are tired of being jerked around and used as political pawns. We have no interest in propping up an economy that cares so little for us, and has failed to provide for us.

I do see plenty of parents on here saying things like, "Why do people think we are still in quarantine? I've been going to Orange Theory and loving it. We are going on vacation next week. We need to get back to our lives, we can't hide from COVID forever." But wait, is that not all parents? That can't be true, if your logic applies here.

I mean, if you teach in NYC, which is doing well with case numbers, and you’re doing a hybrid model, which means reduced class sizes, why shouldn’t you go back to work likes thousands of other professions? Why are teachers the only super protected class?

In what way have we been "super protected"? In March, our schools stayed open until there were almost 500 known positive cases. Most districts around the country closed as soon as they found a single positive in their community. The governor put capacity limits on gatherings, first 500 people, then 100, and so on-and schools were exempted from following them. The mayor said we needed to stay open so parents could go to work, so we could distribute meals, and to keep teens off the streets. Absolutely not a word about educating the kids. The chancellor made promises of twice weekly deep cleanings, hand sanitizer deliveries, etc. and NONE of it ever happened. Forgive us if we're a little skeptical about more of the same empty promises about supplies and sanitizing. 78 Department of Education employees died, along with thousands of members of our community.
We still have hundreds of active cases in NYC, it isn't like the virus is gone here. Moreover, there are thousands of people coming to New York from states with increasing case numbers. We have a mandatory quarantine, but no way to enforce it. If state borders were shut down, then sure, we could maybe maintain. But they aren't, and they won't be, so it's irrelevant. Our country had over 1,000 deaths yesterday. We are not isolated from the rest of the country. We WERE Florida, Arizona, Texas, and California a few months ago. We know how bad this can get.

DP. As a teacher who grew up in NY state and moved to the DMV after college, there are times I’ve been envious of my teacher friend in NY. Not now- districts here are taking teacher concerns seriously and I really doubt we will return to the classroom before a vaccine is available, unless the virus just dies out and goes away on its own. It probably helps that a lot of parents are just skittish to send their kids back in the first place. Any idea how many kids you’ll have yet?

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher, I am so incredibly embarrassed for my profession right now. We have spent years trying to be seen as important, essential, professional, up to tackling challenges, etc. Now most of my colleagues are ranting dramatically and nonsensically all over social media while going on beach vacations and taking their kids to sports practices. I will be exiting this profession as soon as I possibly can. The whole show has been disgraceful.

Agreed. It just seems like no one was willing to make the sacrifices needed to return to in person learning this fall- or just didn't make the connection until it was too late.

However, IME those who were advocating against in-person learning are not necessarily the same ones complaining about DL now. Many teachers with younger school-aged kids simply wanted to return to the classroom and now are really scrambling to figure out the logistics. And there should have been more training this summer to help some of the non-technology savvy teachers navigate remote teaching.

"The sacrifices needed"-you are literally talking about people dying. Let's be clear here.

Not that tired old body bag line again. For example, "sacrifice" could have meant admininstrators and teachers training/prepping this summer so they're ready for fall. But instead they're hiding behind their union contracts to say they're prohibited from doing any prep whatsoever this summer. (And yes, I'd gladly pay them to prep this summer.)

A couple notes here. "You" would "gladly pay" us, but we aren't actually being paid, so that's a useless promise. We aren't "hiding" behind contracts-we are literally off for the summer, without pay. I'm not sure you understand what a contract is. I can't plan even if I want to, because my district has absolutely ZERO information for how they are programming in the fall. I don't know if I'm teaching online, in person, or both. I don't know what subjects I'm teaching. You are embarrassing yourself-you have no idea what our jobs are like. Do you know that sometimes teachers find out they are teaching a different grade the day before school starts? We can't just "make plans", no matter how angry that makes you.

School districts and teachers should have come together earlier this summer to hammer out additional pay so everyone can be trained over the summer. Instead admins and teachers just retreated into their corners and said they're "off the clock." Also, I constantly have to do professional development outside my working hours, and I don't get paid for any of that. So some of this is also just about the kind of attitude you bring to work.

What would you like me to plan? I don’t know what grade/s I’m teaching, I don’t know who my students will be, what exactly do you want me to do? If you paid me over the summer I don’t have anything to plan yet. Even if I’m assigned a grade level in June for the next year I don’t plan, because I’ve had that rug pulled out from under me the day before school starts. You don’t understand how schools work.

You don't know what grade you're teaching until the day before school starts? Where do you teach- I want to know so I can avoid it!

Not PP, but a friend just learned that her courses (3 electives) were all cancelled because of parents pulling out. She will be reassigned but she has no idea what she will teach right now. We start teaching in a month so she’s considering resigning and trying her luck in Howard Co after the pandemic is over. She is K-12 certified and has a lot to offer any school system.

NP. I have taught at the same school for 15 years. I have no idea what grade/s I will be teaching this year. I have multiple certifications in high need categories. The only thing I -do- know is that I will be assigned to the same school. I don't expect to know what I will be teaching until the first day we go back to work.